Five hundred refugees and asylum seekers are expected to be repatriated to their countries of origin next month, Minister of Homeland Security Ken Zikhale Ng’oma has said.
This came out Monday when Zikhale Ng’oma addressed the 74th Session of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Executive Committee in Geneva, Switzerland.
He said Malawi fosters an environment that encourages voluntary return of asylum seekers and refugees whose circumstances in the country of origin have greatly improved, noting that the 1951 convention on the protection of refugees provides that no one is expected to be a refugee for the rest of their life.
“Malawi, in collaboration with UNHCR, has voluntarily repatriated 38 families, representing 147 individuals, this year with the recent cohort repatriated on October 5 2023. Additionally, 500 repatriation applicants are expected to be repatriated in November. It is our call to all member states to work together to help these applicants,” Zikhale Ng’oma said.
He further told the meeting that limited resources are hampering the country’s daily operations in managing refugees.
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“The funding trends Malawi is currently facing have mainly affected food provisions to the biggest refugee population as only 0.3 percent are reported to be well off without food assistance. Those that are getting assistance are getting half the ration, which is an equivalent of $5, which is not enough to cater for the monthly food basket for an individual. The reduction in funding has also affected staff welfare, where an increment has not been made in the past seven years. With this, therefore, the Government of Malawi continues to appeal to partners for the provision of resources towards management and support of refugees and asylum seekers as it cannot provide all the support on its own.
“We continue to make this call following plans to open a new camp to help decongest Dzaleka Refugee Camp for resettlement of all refugees in Malawi. This camp will be in the northern part of Malawi, which has a vast area for development,” he said.
In August this year, the government disclosed that UNHCR had committed $80 million (about K87.6 billion) to the establishment of a new refugee camp at Kayilizi, Senior Chief Mwenewenya, in Chitipa District.
It further indicated that UNHCR had committed $50,000 (about K50 million) towards the review of the Refugees Act of 1989.
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Meanwhile, Youth and Society Executive Director Charles Kajoloweka has said refugees and asylum seekers deserve humane treatment.
“The welfare of refugees should be a priority for Malawi. The government should make sure that it creates a conducive environment for refugees and adhere to refugee treaties that are deposited at the United Nations,” Kajoloweka said.
In September this year, some refugees were repatriated.
This followed the repatriation of 38 other Rwandan refugees in June this year.
However, there have been reports of corruption and underhand dealings on the issue of refugees.
In August this year, our sister paper, Malawi News, exposed a corruption racket involving some officials from the government and UNHCR, who are alleged to be receiving bribes from refugees in exchange for resettling them to European countries.
The beans were spilled after a deal for one refugee and his family, Burundi national Protais Kamana, failed to be executed after allegedly paying K60 million to the officials to facilitate the resettlement plan.
His coming to Malawi was facilitated by one of the refugees who has been living in the camp for many years, but his trip ended up in one of the hotels in Lilongwe.
Kamana arrived in the country in February this year and engaged the officials to facilitate the deal but, six months later, he found himself at Dzaleka camp after they allegedly duped him of all his money.
“I paid the money because the officials promised that they would process my resettlement in Europe,” Kamana is quoted as saying.
Zikhale Ng’oma confirmed at the time that the ministry had received reports of officers from the ministry and UNHCR being implicated in corruption in exchange with resettlement of refugees.
Malawi currently hosts close to 70,000 refugees, most of whom come from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia and Somalia.
Dzaleka, located in Dowa District, around 50 kilometers from Lilongwe, is the largest refugee camp in the country.
